You'll Have the Rent Money Next Tuesday

Did you know we still had people employed in the Concord (California) ops center? Neither did we, apparently. I received word earlier today that there was an EVICTION NOTICE posted on the front door of the office from the building's property management company. We haven't been paying our $50,000 monthly rent for quite some time. This was brought to accounting's attention and supposedly we are going to take care of this "error."

Can you imagine that? What company conveniently forgets to pay a $50,000 monthly rental bill? Sounds like we're doing "what is required" again by walking away from a problem and ignoring it while throwing a bunch of innocent employees under the bus. If I were any of the people still working in that office, I'd demand an explanation, apology and assurance this will never happen again. I'd also appoint one employee to camp out in the office overnight this evening to make sure everybody isn't locked out in the morning.

Yep, things are really looking good for us. Here's a tip for all of you: if there is an EVICTION NOTICE on your office door, you can make a safe assumption that our half-baked Alt-A program isn't going to be the magic potion that will turn this company around.

An EVICTION NOTICE. How embarassing.

Busy Day for Me...Slow Day for the Blog

I actually had some work to take care of today, so I don't have much to post. Below are a couple of articles about the latest rounds of mortgage industry layoffs. Oh, and for all of you grumpy folks down the hall: Lighten up, would you? The walls are thinner than you think.

Talk of the bay: Subprime jobs were just on loan, turns out
"Subprime mortgage lenders gaveth Tampa many jobs during the housing boom, but the industry continues to taketh them away. The city's layoff toll rose to 778 on Wednesday when New Century Financial Corp. disclosed plans to cut 177 local staffers. The California lender, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April, follows layoff announcements by Fremont Investment & Loan (301 jobs), H&R Block Mortgage (141), First NLC Financial Services (92) and AcuLink Mortgage Solutions (67)."

Orange County mortgage casualties
"First NLC Financial Services LLC, Orange. Reported 113 layoffs in March to the EDD."

Great Food, Family Fun and Entertainment

Just a couple of quick facts about this year's company picnic:

• It's only for those of us in Deerfield, proving once again that if you don't work at HQ, you aren't important. However, you'll still receive all of the email announcements for this event, so while you don't get to have a picnic, at least you can hear about how great it will be for the chosen ones.
• It costs a lot of money. In a climate of slashing costs, we've spared no expense on this little shindig. We discontinue employees' health coverage the day they are laid off, but when the execs have a chance to make a big show about how great their company is, it's open checkbooks. "See how wonderful we are? We are your benevolent leaders! Eat your hotdogs while basking in the knowledge that tomorrow we may kick you to the curb in another workforce reduction!"

Let's Hear From You

I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of traffic this blog has received in just a few days. Some people at the office are fuming about what I've written, but since it's all true, they have nobody to blame but their own conceited selves. After all, did they really think nobody was eventually going to call them out for the way they've handled themselves over the past few years?

Sure, some executives are gifted with expensive watches just for turning another year older (wait until you hear THAT story), but most of us are treated as common help whose only purpose is to make a few individuals rich. We'll launch a new product and the execs feel their job is done. The entire company will receive a short email from an exec that will say something like "now go out there and make this happen." That's our motivation. Never mind that the product is already outdated and we can't make adjustments quickly enough to compensate for the market. The problem is now OURS. And guess who gets the blame when the numbers still don't hit our targets? Us - the regular folks who are stuck peddling an inferior product. The perception up top, apparently, is that brokers and borrowers don't shop for the best deal.

The main purpose of this site was to document all of the questionable practices employees and brokers have witnessed at First NLC. While there are still plenty of things I want to share with you, I thought it would be a good idea to solicit visitors for any information they may have. Feel free to leave your horror stories in the comments and I will post them on the main page. I encourage all of you to remain anonymous - many of you are still at the company and we know how petty and vindictive certain individuals are.

I am absolutely certain that if I am discovered, I'll be working the weekend shift at the Waffle House. Still, I figure I'll probably be let go prior to that because the company continues to fail (anybody want to buy a subprime mortgage company? Call 1-800-FBR-SELL).

Until then, see y'all at the company picnic!

See You In Court

Here's a handy little link y'all can use to see the lawsuits listing First NLC as a defendant. According to justia.com, there have been ten filed since February '06, including another case involving the Fair Labor Standards Act. Good thing we have so many lawyers on the payroll!

Here's some bonus links from the past:

• First NLC listed on ripoffreport.com (2006)
• Woman Loses Home After Agreeing To Loan (2005 predatory lending story from an ABC News affiliate)
• Merger of California and Colorado overtime lawsuits against First NLC approved (2006)
• A notary writes about not being paid by First NLC on the 123notary.com message board's "beware of these companies" forum (2006, about 3/4 of the way down the page)

First NLC and the WARN Act

I found a detailed list of the positions eliminated in our Orange offices at the end of March when the company notified California's state employment department for compliance with the WARN Act (it's a long document; you'll have to scroll down about 1/3 of the way - all companies are listed alphabetically). Among the positions cut: 17 account executives and 28 account managers. Interesting that the Northern California positions we eliminated during the same month are not listed. I wonder if that's why I've been hearing talk about a WARN Act lawsuit against us.

I know that the Northern California folks were not given much of a severance package when they closed Concord ops. It was something like 1 week's pay for every year of service. I guess the company was trying to cut corners (again) by separating all of the offices when reporting the layoffs.

You would think that a responsible company would take all of their planned layoffs (at least from the same state) and bundle them together in order to take care of the folks who stuck with them through these recent hard times and help them transition into the next phase of their careers, but First NLC has never been about anybody that doesn't directly service and affect the Powers That Be (our royal family) here in Deerfield.

News Flash: Florida Is Not California

For many years, First NLC has cut corners by allocating California resources to Florida cost centers. Several employees who work and pay taxes in California are considered Florida workers. This benefits First NLC because Florida has much cheaper and management-friendly labor laws.

I've overheard conversations and phone calls detailing how west coast employees were confused about certain corporate policies that conflicted with their state's labor laws. Things like not being able to roll over unused vacation time into the next calendar year are totally illegal in California, but they are par for the course in Deerfield. It wasn't until January that First NLC finally issued a California-specific policies document, but I've been told it doesn't address any labor issues that would be in the employee's favor.

Why am I telling all of you this? I just found out that some employees who were let go a few weeks ago are unable to collect unemployment benefits in California because, according to their state's records, they were employees of Florida. Imagine getting laid off and not even being eligible for unemployment just because some bean-counting weasels wanted to save a few bucks by classifying you as a worker in another state! Legal? Methinks not, but legalities don't seem to stop our organization.

Let this be a warning to all of you who are still employed out there on the west coast: find out what cost center your wages are being reported from. At First NLC, "doing what is required" means screwing over everybody who stands in the way of making the execs' bank accounts grow.

First NLC: Overtime? What Overtime?

Here's the latest status (as of April 5) on the class action lawsuit (filed by Nichols Kaster & Anderson, PLLP) against First NLC for failing to pay overtime wages:

"First NLC recently provided us with a list of approximately 1300 additional names of eligible employees that were omitted from a previous Court ordered list. The case has also expanded to include branch processors, senior loan officers and team leaders. We have mailed notice of the case to these 1300 people who have until May 22, 2007 to return their Consent forms and join the case."

You can read more and find out if you are eligible to participate here.

First NLC In The News

I just wanted to catch y'all up on how FBR (the parent company of First NLC, for those of you fortunate enough not to know) threw First NLC under the bus a couple of weeks ago after announcing their 1st quarter earnings for 2007. I don't think any of this is making Daddy and Junior's stock portfolios rise, do you? I should note that all of these statements happened about five weeks after FBR gave First NLC a vote of confidence during a company-wide conference call.

Mortgage Defaults Hurt Lenders
"Meanwhile, investment bank Friedman, Billings had a loss of $185.9 million, or $1.08 a share, because of write-downs at its First NLC mortgage unit and costs for "restructuring." The company is trying to sell First NLC."

Friedman Billings Posts Loss on Mortgage Writedowns
"The First NLC mortgage unit lost $124.2 million after writing down the value of goodwill, stakes in other "nonprime'' mortgage companies and its own home-loan investments, the company said. Friedman Billings also recorded $5.2 million of "restructuring and other costs.''

Mortgage Woes Send FBR to Quarterly Loss
"The Arlington investment bank reported a loss of $185.9 million ($1.08 a share) for the first three months of the year, compared with a profit of $26.6 million (16 cents) in the corresponding period a year earlier. FBR said its mortgage company, First NLC Financial Services, lost $124.2 million in the quarter. First NLC specializes in subprime loans, those generally offered to people with blemished credit or insufficient cash for a down payment."

Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Loses in Nonprime
"In the company's official 2007 first quarter report, it attributes most of the recent losses to its wholly-owned nonprime origination platform, First NLC Financial Services (FNLC). According to the company's first quarter report, FNLC experienced a net after-tax loss of $124.2 million."

Subprime mortgage fallout hits FBR
"FBR said in March it was evaluating alternatives, including the possible sale, of First NLC, which is FBR Group's non-prime mortgage origination business. The company now says it intends to act on those alternatives sometime this quarter."

At First NLC, Lies Start At The Top

Here's some insight into the typical line of BS we receive from the CEO. This was sent to us a few days after they axed a significant amount of the workforce. My comments are included.

Dear Fellow Employees,

Last Friday, First NLC was forced to implement a restructuring plan that required us to close some of our wholesale operations and to lay off employees. We did our best to ease the pain for the individuals involved (unless they were in actual pain and had to see a doctor and couldn't because we stripped them of their health coverage that very evening - however, that one week's severance for every year of service should allow them to eat Top Ramen and cat food for the next couple of months), and every affected employee was notified personally by a senior manager (to this day, some of the affected (former) employees still haven't spoken to a senior manager and weren't even notified of their dismissal that day - they found out through colleagues on the grapevine).

Since the founding of this great company, this was the most difficult thing we have had to do. You know what is going on as well as I do: nonperforming loans have disrupted the secondary market, which has caused a tide of put-backs to the originators. The whole subprime industry is a mess. In the big picture (big picture = all lenders),this is an anomaly (this is a long-term fact of life and NOT an anomaly for subprime), but in the meantime, many of our competitors - from the most respected to the marginal - have been put out of business, and many others are on the edge.

As painful as the restructuring has been, First NLC is better off than many (a boldfaced lie, especially in light of FBR's financial statement that came out three weeks later). We have been able to take steps to ensure our long-term success (long-term = "until our contracts with FBR expire this summer"). (Name Witheld) and I were in New York at a series of meetings to work through strategic alternatives. We're also investigating ways to enhance the value of our originations, including the possibility of holding loans in portfolio. And we are fortunate to be a wholly owned subsidiary of FBR (not for long), a well capitalized company (not sure the Washington Post agrees with that) totally committed to our franchise (totally committed to unloading us to anybody who will pay pennies on the dollar for us, that is).

My experience tells me that what we have seen these past few months is not the Ghost of Subprime Future. The market will restabilize, and First NLC will thrive again (with only his family on the payroll). In our industry, loan performance and loan quality are key. Our future depends on our continuing to work to originate the best product available, and I know we will.

(Name Witheld), your senior managers, our parent company, and I are proud to stand with you during this difficult period (as we scramble to save our hides). Tough times show what we are made of (ask any employee what you are made of - when the going got tough, your only solution was to downsize and cut overhead without actually attacking the issues at hand). We thank you for doing what you do every day, and we remain confident in our (my family's) future (fortune).

First NLC: Did You Know?

• That management in one of the West Coast wholesale ops centers routinely tapped into employee phone conversations? In a rare moment of truthfulness a few months ago, a floor manager openly admitted to it. Is that legal in California? I don't think it is in Florida.
• People who were laid off on March 30 had their health benefits expire at midnight that evening, even though there was one day left in the month. Some people weren't even notified on Friday that they had been laid off and unknowingly engaged in weekend activities without health coverage.
• Former employees received incorrect severance payouts that were automatically deposited to their bank accounts. A few days later, the deposits were reversed without notification. HR wasn't going to replace these funds until the following pay period. When forced to make these payments, the correct amounts were sent to the bank accounts - often with a wiring fee deducted. Amazing how quick the company could take its money back, but how reluctant they were to correctly pay it out.
• As of mid-April, several laid-off employees from the first week of March had yet to receive their severance.
• Speaking of layoffs, legal action is being taken against FNLC for violation of the WARN Act.
• Alt-A products were being developed as early as last summer, but Daddy and Junior but the kibosh on it. Think that might have helped us last Fall? We finally launched about a week ago, and as usual, it's too little, too late.
• Our swanky new offices (that we still haven't moved into) are costing a lot of money. When the execs were looking at possible cost-cutting measures a few months ago, the highest-ranking exec would not consider getting out of our lease and instead decided to continue slashing employees from the payroll. Too bad there won't be anybody left to occupy T. Rex by the time it's ready!
• The corporate 401k matching program is arbitrary. Even if you've been there for over a year, it is still at the company's discretion whether they will allocate matching contributions to you. The matching contribution normally takes place once a year (in March, allegedly) in a single lump sum. I know of several employees eligible for this program who were dismissed this past March without their matching contributions. Better yet, when pressed on this matter, HR representatives freely admit that they aren't exactly sure what the policies are. It's a shame to withhold such a pittance from hard-working regular folk, but since it puts more money into the execs' wallets (and really, it's all about the execs, right?), I suppose it's just another case of "doing what is required."

Job Searches Squashed

While reviewing the infamous Bakersfield Bubble thread, I saw a few FNLC supporters saying "if you don't like it, get another job."

Well, that's harder than it looks.

We've been told that all of our work computers are being monitored to see if we are visiting any job posting sites. In addition, we have been threatened that, if any of our resumes are found on these sites, we will suffer consequences.

So tell me - how can I look for a new gig if it means I'll get fired from my current one? I'm not talking about running a job search while I'm at work - I'm talking about posting my resume to Monster or Hot Jobs from my home computer during my personal time and having some HR weasel find it and rat me out.

This is what life is like as a First NLC employee.

Who Am I?

I may be a current FNLC employee working right down the hall from Daddy and Junior. I might be an AE who left the company when things took a severe downturn a few months ago. I may be a disgruntled Lending Center schmo that is desperately trying to find another job in this crazy industry.

I might be all of these people, or none of them.

One thing I definitely am, however, is somebody who has access to enough information on this company on a day-to-day basis to be able to pass along a fairly complete picture of how Daddy and Junior have run this organization into the ground with extremely questionable (if not illegal) practices.

And, I'm going to share this with you.

Stay tuned.

PS - if anybody has a problem with this, please keep in mind that it took five minutes to start this blog and I'm archiving all of this information in a secure place. If you shut me down, I'll just show up somewhere else. This is my mission until First NLC is closed for good.

The Post That Started It All

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